Please keep in mind too (for the people concerned about Shadow) that the statement of feeling that Shadow is pretty solid right now doesn't imply perfection. It is a solid spec that is getting a lot more use in PvE especially as of late. We currently don't have any buffs or nerfs scheduled for patch 2.3 and I would think if anything that would be good news that things aren't changing at this point in time.

Here's where things get very unclear to myself, and I'm sure many other priests, especially shadow priests.

The developers of this game have made extreme changes to other classes based upon PvP

Such as(And not limited to)
- Taking deathwish and enrage stacking away from warriors, now moving death wish into the arms tree.
- Giving mages a trainable immuno-bubble
- Allowing warlocks have a spell that locks out dispells from opposing players' healers unless they want to get silenced etc.
- Huntards now have mortal strike, which can also be paired with Beastial Wrath allowing the Aimed shot to be uninterrupted.
- Huntards also now have no dead zone so no matter what, if you're in range of them, you will be taking damage.
- Huntards can now dispell 1 buff with arcane shot...unresistable...which ALSO does damage.

And your above quote states that shadow priests are pretty solid, in PvE...

So explain to me how the developers think shadow priests fare in PvP, because that is all that any of the priests that are going to read this thread, and bump this thread, care about. And the reason that that is, is because the developers, and you our representative to the developers have ignored the imbalance of OUR survivability for WAY too long.

Things that need to be addressed, and I'm sure you've heard this plenty of time, but it obviously isn't clicking, and again this is a PvP thread, I know my class works as intended in PvE, I'm COMPLETELY happy with it(Except for Fade).

1. Give us an escape. Not a fear that breaks 95% of the time when damage is dealt to that target. And not a shield that only prevents 1200 damage and is purge-able.

2. Give us a talent lower in the disc tree that makes our buffs harder to dispel by a certain percent so that shadow priests can shield and no instantly die.

3. Fix priest racials so that they do not favor certain races in PvP / PvE. It is ridiculous to give 2 races an insane talent such as Chastise and not give that to other priests. And that is purely PvP based because in most cases in end game raiding, mobs are immune to stun and why on earth would you cause more damage to something if you have excessive hate caused to that mob.

4. Which brings up another topic. FADE. For Christ's sake the Lord in Heaven, fix this broken spell or remove it from the class. It is the most mana inefficient spell to spam every cool down for a shadow priest, and it is not a significant enough aggro drop therefore making it useless.
- Almost ALL other DPS classes have a complete aggro drop. Warlocks/Rogues/Mages/Hunters all have a skill they can use to drop threat by an insane amount. Shadow Priests, at least in my guild, are riding the tanks threat in almost every encounter. Make Fade a 5 min cool down and make it wipe threat, or 50% of the threat you've caused.

5. Something I've been pretty upset about for a while is that our silence is on a 45second cool down when we have to spec into it. Mages and Warlocks both have silences that are less than 30s, and they get them for free. Give us a smaller cool down or allow us to lock out a tree of an opposing caster.

EDIT: After reading a lot of the posts this morning after waking up I've decided to add to this list.

6. Remove improved fade from the shadow tree and give us a 2 or 3 point mindflay tree that allows us a focus casting. Also mindflay needs to have it's range extended so that in boss fights and in PvP, we're able to use one of our best damage spells and crowd control someone by slowing them by 50%. This will also make our damage less mitigate-able when we're getting railed on by a rogue.

7. A few fo the posters talk about silent resolve, however putting 5 points for 20% dispell resist is a huge waste, especially if you want to get focused casting and improved mana burn and all the other good disc talents. Give us a talent in the shadow tree in place of that stupid 4% less to be crit by spells talent, that increases the chance of our offensive debuffs to be dispelled by 30/60%. This will make us a class that can do things without a warlock or fear of wasting time/mana to put our damage over time effects on a target when they will most likely be dispeled by their healer. A lot of shadow priest damage is mitigate-able in PvP and that makes us a horrible choice in any situation without a warlock that has Unstable Affliction on that target.

The point of this thread is to bring up some of the things that have been bothering me as of late. Shadow is broken in PvP and you Nethaera and the Developers know this. I'm not extremely mad about the buffs to Mages, that is fine. But hunters? They are getting an insane PvP buff, and shadow priests are getting laughed at. It isn't fair. Not in the least. But again I'm arguing with Blizzard entertainment, probably one of the most intelligent companies around. More-so than Marlboro, only because blizzard has created a product that is more addictive that cigarettes, doesn't give cancer, but will make you die of a heart-attack after being shafted over and over and over again. You have the resources, and the people behind the scenes, why don't you make the effort to the community of shadow priests that have been begging for some help.

What do you have to say now Neth? Shadow Priests are strong in PvE, but lack the survivability that essentially every other class has over us.

EDIT: Thanks for the support and suggestions guys, keep this post rolling.

*edited the title. Please refrain from putting Blizzard employee names in titles as well as blue, blizzard or any variant. thanks! - Nethaera

With all of the changes that were implemented in 2.3 for various classes (including the Priest changes) we are keeping a close eye on the results on the live realms. While data from the PTRs can give us some insight into what could be, it's the live realms that can give us the much bigger picture.

I'm aware of the concerns of Shadow Priests when it comes to PvP. I'll continue to forward the concerns as well and do what I can to follow-up with them (as will the rest of the Community Team) when and if we have more information to share.

While we've made some changes to classes in 2.3.0, this isn't the end of changes or possible changes so continued constructive discussions by the community are being monitored and looked into on our end for things that should be changed or can be changed.

I don't have any more information for you at this point in time, unfortunately, but can at least say that we are continuing to take into account the experiences and concerns that the community is expressing now with the latest patch release.

I just wanted to also thank everyone for continuing to post their experiences. It's always appreciated and gives great insight into the experiences of different individuals.

You WAIT till the 13th page of this thread to say ANYTHING, man Neth you need to learn to do your job and listen to the community holy crap.

You imply that I waited. I didn't wait. I posted when I found the time to post. I've been a bit busy like everyone else. As much as I'd like to be all places at once, it is still impossible. Someday I hope modern science can help me with that so I can do even more multi-tasking than I do now. ;)

But come on, your suppose to be Omnipresent, can't you just like always be on the forums and stuff :P. thought that came with the job. But seriously, didn't you see this thread before the 13th page O.o. and if so why reply so late?

I was actually focused on some General issues, Hunter concerns, and some other tasks via email I had. :( With the launch of the patch we've been busy taking in all the feedback, experiences, and possible bug reports people have been letting us know about. The days go by very quickly.

I just wanted to at least let it be known that we're still watching and taking it all in. While it may sound 'canned' to some, I don't have my responses saved up for a quick copy and paste. I'd like to think we've been making some good progress in a positive way for everyone. I'd also like to think that we will continue to make changes where we feel they are needed and will continue to pay attention to player input as well.

I passed this along. We'll take a look at it. Just as an FYI, I looked at this as well and saw that the single buff for Shadow Protection does cost more than the single target buffs for Divine Spirit and Power Word: Fortitude. The group based Shadow Protection does not cost as much as the Prayer of Spirit or the Prayer of Fortitude, however.